What tax reform will look like in the Trump administration

In an interview with Spero News, Randy Fischer of Americans for Fair Taxation -- a Florida-based nonprofit that advocates for a national sales tax as a substitute for income taxes and other taxes -- expressed delight over the recent election of Donald Trump. The prospect of passing a “fair tax,” said Fischer, is greater than ever. Noting that Vice-President-elect Mike Pence has long been a friend to tax cuts, Fischer said of the incoming administration, “There’s going to be tax reform. The question is what it’s going to be.”

On the group’s website, the group’s president and chairman Steven L. Hayes writes that Trump’s election is “the biggest potential upheaval since Ronald Reagan. Trump’s words and his cabinet nominees promise that many of the policies of the last twenty years will either be uprooted and tossed out or revised substantially.”

In his statement, Hayes said that because Trump is not encumbered by the principle that only small changes in the tax laws should be made. “He is not beholden to the lobbyists who make a large part of their income because of the income tax code. He has shown a willingness to take on anyone that is acting only ‘in their own best interest.’”

Americans for Fair Taxation (FairTax.org) advocates abolishing the Internal Revenue Service while calling for a new system of taxation to replace the currently “broken” federal tax system. Its website states that the system is “unfair, overly complex, and almost impossible for most Americans to understand.”

FairTax is calling for the payment of taxes on expenditures, which the group argues would not be regressive but progressive. According to the website, “FairTax is a national sales tax that treats every person equally and allows American businesses to thrive, while generating the same tax revenue as the current four-million-word-plus tax code.” The new system would require every person in the U.S. to pay a sales tax on all new goods and services, while excluding “necessities due to the prebate.” According to the website, “The FairTax rate after necessities is 23% compared to combining the 15% income tax bracket with the 7.65% of employee payroll taxes under the current system -- both of which will be eliminated!” The group is also calling for the abolition of payroll taxes.

Rather than addressing federal benefits, the group’s website states that these programs would remain funded, not on taxing workers’ but on overall consumption by all residents.

The scheme includes what is described as a “prebate.” This “progressive program” would provide every legal resident household an “advance fund” at the onset of every month so that purchases made up to the poverty level are tax-free. “The prebate prevents an unfair burden on low-income families.”